


Uncertainty

by GoofyGoldenGirl



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Accidental Kissing, Bittersweet, Boss/Employee Relationship, Caring, Coronavirus, Emotional, F/M, Fluff, Holding Hands, Invitation, Kissing, Love Confessions, Quarantine, Tea, Uncertainty, Vulnerability, Worry, gabenath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23281384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoofyGoldenGirl/pseuds/GoofyGoldenGirl
Summary: Power, magic, and control could only do so much. When it came down to it, Gabriel and Nathalie were still human beings, just as vulnerable as everyone else in the world.
Relationships: Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur
Comments: 22
Kudos: 99





	Uncertainty

The audio from the livestream came tinny through the computer’s speakers. It half registered through Nathalie’s ears as she picked up the folder lying on the desk and went to count the papers inside for the hundredth time. One, two, three. Something about a lockdown drifted through. Four, five. More measures were being taken. Six, back to one. A call for unity in the fight against one of the gravest threats mankind faced. 

“Unity?” Nathalie said out loud.

If this were another time or place, Nathalie knew that Gabriel would take advantage of the panic bubbling through Paris and exploit it for his own gain. She wondered what action he would take. Send out more akumas knowing that people were cooped up in their homes and unable to leave? Target places where the tension boiled and burst: hospitals where the sick were gripped with fear and tended to by healthcare workers who were pushed to their limit? Supermarkets, pharmacies, and other stores filled to the brim with shoppers on survival mode, who would willingly maim another human being for the last item on sale? The city streets and squares where protestors would inevitably swarm to protest? Perhaps for a situation like that, Gabriel would enlist her as Catalyst to spread multiple akumas at once. Nathalie knew that Mayura would be a no show. Gabriel was adamant about not using the peacock miraculous ever since the first case in France was announced, and now, a week had passed since Hawkmoth akumatized his last victim.

Power, magic, and control could only do so much. When it came down to it, Gabriel and Nathalie were still human beings, just as vulnerable as everyone else in the world. 

There came a knock at the door. Nathalie straightened the folder with a glance over her shoulder.

“Yes?”

“It’s me,” came Gabriel’s voice from the other side. 

The door opened. Nathalie turned around, and she felt the smooth cover of the folder bend before starting into a slid down against her fingers. A fast catch with a swing of her legs back against her chair steadied her. Her surprise gave way to a composed expression as she sat up and looked over at him again.

A pair of brown slippers adorned Gabriel’s feet, each top covering the hems of his red work trousers. All emblems of professionalism: the blazer, the fake tie that concealed his miraculous, and waistcoat were gone. To see him in such a casual state was _startling_ and _alarming_ in more ways than one, Nathalie thought to herself as she eyed his rolled up sleeves and how his shirt tightened around his forearms. 

She hoped that he didn’t catch onto the fact that had been flustered to the point of staring like a lovestruck schoolgirl. So far, Gabriel didn’t seem to notice anything unusual. It was then that she noticed the mug in his hands.

“I made you some tea with lemon and honey. It should help with your throat in case you start coughing again.”

Gabriel’s free arm wrapped around the back of Nathalie’s chair. He held the mug out. She reached over, feeling her thumb graze against the side of his hand as mug transferred over, along with the warmth that radiated and curved against her palms.

“Thank you. That’s very sweet of you,” Nathalie raised the mug to her lips to take a sip.

Slip up or not, Nathalie’s words were genuine. For a man like Gabriel who never outwardly expressed concern or wore his emotions on his sleeve, him taking the time to do something so simple and heartfelt like prepare her some tea, touched her more than any declaration of love could. The mug rested comfortably and securely in her hands, almost as if to embrace it the way she imagined she would with him.

Gabriel pulled up a chair. 

“Do you think you’ll be able to get home?” He asked.

The time on the computer screen informed her that it was close to 8:00 pm. If this were a normal day, Nathalie would have exchanged her work clothes for pajamas by now and would be comfortably curled up on the living room sofa. There’d be a bowl of ice cream or a glass of wine in her hand, and all thoughts of the Agreste household were banished to the back of her mind as she took in the news or the events of the latest episode of a show she followed on tv. The strain of a long day was beginning to hit her hard and Nathalie could feel her body long for a much needed rest. The tea helped, but it wasn’t enough. 

“I don’t think they’ve closed down the subways just yet. I’ll be fine if I head out soon,” Nathalie told him. 

“Well,” Gabriel paused. Uncertainty, something Nathalie, rarely saw, flashed in his eyes. 

“I was thinking of well--” there it was again. Gabriel blinked. 

“ _Will_ you be alright at home?”

The tea sloshed around in the mug. Nathalie raised her head. The deep blue of his irises struck with an intensity she had never seen before. The light from overhead bounced off the lens of his glasses. Gabriel reached out. He wrapped his hand around the opposite side of the mug so his fingers could inch over and rest against her hand that gripped the handle.

“With all the reports going around, I’m _scared_ of what could happen to you.”

He averted his gaze for a second. 

“I’m at a loss watching you suffer from the effects of the peacock miraculous and I hate—I _dread_ thinking of what could happen if you get this virus.”

Gabriel was speaking at such a fast pace that Nathalie couldn’t find a gap to insert herself in. 

“You’re already at _risk_ and if the magic that tampered the peacock miraculous is already making you ill, it might go _haywire_ —“

“ _Gabriel,_ ” Nathalie finally found her chance. “I’ve been taking care of myself the best I _can._ I daresay I’m doing better than most people in Paris when it comes to good hygiene habits and social distancing.”

Gabriel’s hand pulled back. It rose towards his temple where it adjusted the handle of his glasses. He sighed.

“That is true,” a faint smile crept up before the worry reasserted itself again and flattened the corners of his lips. “But what if we reach a point where the whole city’s in _chaos?_ With no food in the stores, no room in the hospitals for you to go to? Nathalie, _please_ stay with me.”

His hand touched hers again. It curved over the points of the knuckles.

“I know I may not be the best company to be around, but it’s better than no company at at. And we know that I’ve planned to store enough food and supplies to last at least six months in case an event like this should happen. I have the numbers of France’s best doctors on my phone. I can easily pay for experimental treatment if it comes to it, and we still have the leftover—“

He became silent. And pale.

_The IV fluids and ventilator we used for Emilie_ Nathalie’s heart sank.

Gabriel’s fingers slid against the dry patches in between her fingers that could not be smoothed no matter how much cream she applied. Yet his fingers lightly pressed into a rub, and with a quick breath to steady himself, Gabriel leaned forward.

“Nathalie,” he said softly. “With everything that has happened since—no, even before we were thrown into a world full of magic and impossibilities, I’ve never had the opportunity to tell you how much you mean to me. Nathalie, you’re _more_ than just my employee, partner in crime, or even a _confidant—_ ”

He was so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath against her. Nathalie’s lips sparked with a numbness as it curled up before being scattered across the space between them. His head tilted to rest his forehead against hers’. Her grip upon the mug’s handle loosened, and his grip tightened. 

“Nathalie,” the blue in his eyes lightened. “You—“

A pause. Nathalie’s lips itched with the temptation to move in and close the gap between them, but she wasn’t sure how he’d respond. So instead, she kept still and waited for his next move.

Gabriel’s lips puckered up against her cheek. A light pressure that steadily bore down as the seconds passed. Nathalie’s lips parted as he pulled back. She raised her head to meet his gaze, but didn’t expect him to move in again. His lips grazed, slid against the curve of her cheekbone, and one sharp jolt forced their lips to collide.

Nathalie felt numb again. Her eyelashes fluttered, uncertain whether to let her eyes close or not. Her lips shook, then boldly jutted out. Then it came all at once: the clamp of his hand, tilt of his head, the slide of his lips as they centered, pressed down, and held for a few blissful seconds before he pulled back at last. 

She could feel her cheeks burn. Nathalie blinked, then took a deep breath before moving to speak.

“Do I mean _that_ to you?” She asked.

Gabriel squeezed her hand. The blue of his eyes appear to swirl against the lens of his glasses. The corners of his lips twitched.

“Please stay?” He asked.

This time Nathalie leaned in. Her left hand slid from the mug and raised to cup the side of his head.

“Yes,” she whispered before confirming her answer with another kiss.


End file.
